At times in Christian thought, the priorities of pure doctrine and passionate mission have been perceived as opposites on a spectrum where emphasis on one results in neglect of the other, but without one, the other is deficient and doomed to crumble. Mission without doctrine is like a body without a skeleton, but apart from mission, doctrine is like dry bones in a museum. A Lutheran Reformission maintains a dual emphasis, resulting in doctrinal missions as well as missional doctrine.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Q:Are alternative formats for the
Bible a good tool for Christians to use?What does one gain or lose by using a chronological or story Bible or a
paraphrase instead of a typical translation?

Probably the earliest alternative
Bible formats to be produced were intended to be used with children.Picture Bibles were produced for children who
had not yet learned to read, and illustrated Bible Story Books were produced
for children in the process of learning to read.Some of these books, particularly the older
hand-illustrated ones, are beautiful works of art which also served as
excellent teaching tools for introducing the Bible to children at a young age
and beginning their instruction in the Faith.

More recently, books have begun to
appear for adults which place excerpts from the Bible in chronological order
formatted as a story or a novel.One
thing that people often find challenging when first interacting with Scripture
is that it consists of several different genres arranged thematically rather
than chronologically.So the Old
Testament begins with all of the history books, continues with the poetic
writings, then concludes with the record of the prophets.Likewise the New Testament is divided into
the four Gospels and the Epistles (letters), with the books of Acts (history)
and Revelation (prophecy) included as the fifth and last books respectively.

The authors of chronological or story
Bibles intend to make the Bible easier to understand by smoothing these various
genres into a continuous narrative and placing them in chronological order, and
pastors may find some beneficial uses for these attempts, such as guiding a new
believer through the Bible for the first time, much like parents might use a
picture Bible or Bible story book with their children.

These Bibles do serve to remind us
something that has sometimes been overlooked in the most recent era of
Christianity—that, beyond being a source of inspirational quotes and
proof-texts for doctrine, the Bible is a record of God’s actions from creation
until the death of St. John the Evangelist to rescue humanity from the deserved
punishment for our rebellion against Him.

However, this style of Bible does
have its weaknesses.The first of these
is that it does not include the whole story.Because an editor has chosen the highlights of the story, the reader is
at his mercy to choose which parts of the Bible are more or less important than
others.This means that bias of the
editor may result in overemphasis on certain minor themes or the omission of
important details not favored by the editor.

Additionally, since these editions of
the Bible are not translations of the Bible text but paraphrases, one is
reading the paraphraser’s impressions of a given verse or story rather than the
actual text of the Scriptures.This was
a criticism often leveled against early paraphrases of the Bible such as The Living Bible or the Good News Bible, because the biases of
the paraphraser can cloud the understanding of the reader.While this is a concern with any translation
of the Bible other than the original Greek and Hebrew, the concern is amplified
when dealing with a paraphrase.

When one considers that some of the
popular translations of the Bible have been rated at a 7th grade
reading level, and even the King James Version is evaluated to be readable for
the average high-school Senior, paraphrasing the text seems unnecessary.This is one reason that, until recently, most
seminaries required a working knowledge of at least Greek, and usually Hebrew,
for every man who desired to become a parish pastor—so that he would be able to
assist his parishioners in passages that may be difficult to understand or to
translate concisely.

Some pastors may find that
chronological or story Bibles have a limited benefit for introducing the broad
outline of the Bible for some people under their instruction, but because the
various parts of the Bible are so intricately intertwined and interdependent,
it would be difficult for a reader to gain a mature understanding of the Bible or
a full appreciation for its depth using only such resources.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Q:Is a Christian allowed to
refuse life-prolonging medical treatment?Does the Bible require us to use all available means, no matter how
unlikely the chance of success, to extend the life of a person who is
critically or terminally ill?How do we
know when it is appropriate to proceed with, discontinue, or refuse treatment?

Knowing how to handle a
life-threatening medical condition can be a very difficult thing, especially
when we are making decisions for a parent or other relative who is not able to express
their preferences at the time of treatment, as is often the case in situations
where we are faced with questions such as this.

For the Christian, life is always a
gift from God to be honored and protected.When we make decisions regarding our own treatment or that of a loved
one under our care, this is our starting point.We desire to respect life as God has given it and care for it in a way
which honors Him.We frequently hear
this principle applied to life’s beginning at conception, but it equally
applies to life’s end.

Because modern medical technology did
not exist during the times when the Bible was written, we do not find extensive
guidance on choosing a course of medical treatment.However, since the Fifth Commandment says,
“You shall not murder,” it and its accompanying explanations in the Bible serve
as our boundaries in this sort of decision.

To begin with, actively and
intentionally ending our own life or that of a loved one is never an option for
the Christian.The only circumstances in
which the Bible does not consider causing a person’s death to be murder are
genuine accidents, self-defense, and government’s authority to execute
criminals and defend its citizens through war.Euthanasia, assisted suicide, and any other active and intentional
killing of the patient are therefore not an option.

We also do not withhold essential
provisions such as food, water, and oxygen from a person for the purpose of
hastening their death, nor should a person refuse such things as long as they
are able to receive them through normal means.At the same time, one is not required to go to employ extraordinary or
invasive means to receive or provide them.

When Martin Luther explains the Fifth
Commandment, he summarizes the Bible’s guidance in this way: “We should…not
hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every
physical need.”Our goal when making the
sort of decisions described here is to help and not harm the person receiving
care.We want to honor God’s gift of
life by making our best efforts to heal and save, but also we do not want to
needlessly cause or prolong suffering beyond the likelihood of recovery.

This can be difficult, because we
have no way to know with absolute certainty what the outcome will be, so as we
make these decisions we are always ultimately leaving the person in God’s
hands.We do our best to serve them with
our decisions, and trust Him to guide the outcome for their benefit.

As we do so, it is important to honor
their wishes whenever possible.If they
have expressed to us a desire regarding treatment, we should honor those
desires.When they have not expressed a
desire or the decision goes beyond what they have communicated, we seek to
always do whatever is best for them—whatever will bring the most help or the
least harm in a given situation, and provide them the highest degree of comfort
possible in the process.

When the person receiving care is a
Christian, we have an added consolation, because whatever the outcome, it will
be for their benefit.The Apostle Paul
said, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain,” and the book of Acts tells us
that “through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of God.”This means that if the treatment is
successful, they will spend more time receiving God’s blessing on earth, but if
the treatment fails, their soul will rest with Jesus to await the Resurrection
on the last day when they will be fully and permanently healed.

As is often the case, the variety of
circumstances is seemingly endless, so every situation will have its own unique
characteristics.Although we have
general boundaries within which to proceed, the guidance of doctors and pastors
is of immeasurable value when making any particular decision.

Lutheranism is more than a cultural identity or a denominational label. In fact, this cultural and institutional baggage may be the primary obstacle in Lutheranism’s path.

To be a Lutheran is not dependent on a code of behavior or a set of common customs. Instead, to be a Lutheran is to receive Jesus in His Word, Body, and Blood for the forgiveness of sins in the Divine Service; and to be bearers of this pure Truth to a broken world corrupted with sin, death, and every lie of the devil and man’s own sinful heart.

While the false and misleading ideas of human religious invention are appealing to sin-blinded minds, they fail when exposed to the realities of life. It is tragic when souls are led to confusion and despair because of the false religious ideas with which they are surrounded. The Biblical doctrine taught by the Apostles and restored at the Reformation holds answers which are relevant regardless of time or place and offers assurance of forgiven sins and eternal life who all who believe its message.

I am a husband, a father, the pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church (LCMS) in Burt, IA, and track chaplain at Algona Raceway.